The Wall Street Journal speculates that Apple’s recent change of heart regarding its app store policies was rooted not only in the FTC’s anti-trust investigation, but also due to mounting pressure from Google’s Android OS.

Some analysts said the changes show how threatened Apple is by the increasing momentum of Google’s Android Market. App development for Android could heat up with the introduction in coming months of several Android tablet computers that will rival the iPad.

“They’re trying to make sure they stay the most interesting and most important development platform,” said Jeffrey Hammond, an analyst with technology firm Forrester Research… Hammond said some developers also are starting to develop apps for the Android Market first, so they can start making money immediately while they wait for the App Store version of the app to go through Apple’s approval process.

In the end, it’s hard to know if Apple’s about-face was the result of long drawn out discussions over the course of many months or, perhaps, a sudden move in the face of Android’s growing popularity. Either way, we imagine that the discussions inside Apple’s HQ were intense.